Do you like asyncronous game? I personally prefer async game that I can play anytime with friends around the world, so I would recommend:

- Carcassonne, and Tigris: both are universal (iPad, iPhone, iPod), and play great asyncronously. Carcassonne's price tag shys away many people, especially with the expansions, but I think they just miss out . Carcassonne, I think, is the best board game app ever made.- Ticket to Ride: also well-done. The only problem for me is it has two versions for iPad and iPhone separately, and worse, one version cannot play online with the other one. Otherwise, it's an excellent implementation. You should expect to pay $7 for the basic game, and $7-$8 for all expansions.- Caylus: Not the best choice for async, but local or pass-n-play game is great.- Puerto Rico: No async yet, and no iPhone version, but it's another good implementation.

I have many board game apps, but those are games that get the most play out of my iPad 1.Non-board games I like to play are: New World Colony and Uniwar (async possible), Cut the Rope, Marple... I refuse to play Angry Birds and any Tower Defense games .

I'd also keep an eye on this forum and on the Hot Deals forum to catch games when they are marked down. Many $4.99+ games are frequently marked as temporarily free or radically reduced to drum up interest.